Schools won't be able to hold teacher-only days during term time and parents of students absent for 15 days could be prosecuted, Associate Education Minister David Seymour has announced in a new truancy crackdown.

Schools must have a stepped attendance response (STAR) plan in place by the beginning of the 2026 school year.

Seymour set out an example:

Five days absent: School contacts parents/guardians to determine a reason and set expectations

10 days absent: School leaders meet with parents/guardians and student to develop a plan to address barriers to attendance and "the obligation goes onto services such as attendance, Oranga Tamariki and the local police"

15 days absent: Ministry takes over the response, including possible prosecution of parents

Each school would also be asked to share attendance information with Oranga Tamariki, police, and MSD, he said.

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[–] Dave 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Also see this previous article from May about attendance. Snippets:

[regarding attendance] The rates have dropped precipitously in the years since Covid-19, following years of a much gentler, but still steady, decline.

But although New Zealand's overall rates are worse than countries with similar education systems, they fit a universal pattern of falling attendance in classrooms around the world.

[school principal talking about attendance support programme they have] But where the government has given with one hand, it's taken with the other.

"The other thing that helped us get kids to school was the free transport for under-12s and, of course, that's gone," she says.

"I'm not being political, but if we're cutting funding to things that get our students to school to save money for tax benefits, for our families who are really struggling with poverty, I'm sure that the tax benefit they're going to get is not going to equal what they would have to pay for transport and lunch."